Text Structure Practice-Salads

Salads are a great way to get lots of veggies in your daily diet. Traditional green salads are a bowl of chopped up lettuce with different kinds of fresh vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots and onions on top. Italian and Ranch are popular salad dressings that kids love to pour over the salad.

Salad bars became very popular at restaurants in the early 1980’s because health and physical fitness became widespread topics. Restaurants added salad bars to their menus to keep up with what customers wanted. Burger King and Wendy’s even had salad bars in their restaurant space for a while. Although many of the self-serve salad bars are gone, restaurants still offer a variety of pre-made salads as menu items.

A common complaint about school cafeteria menus has been that many of the foods lack nutritional value. Health officials warn us not to eat foods that are high in salt and fat. To help resolve this ongoing issue, many school districts have taken steps to revamp their cafeteria offerings, including adding salads and other healthy foods to their menus.

Two popular menu items are Cobb salad and Taco salad. Both start with a base of lettuce and each includes meat/protein, but they have very different toppings. Cobb salad has bacon, shredded cheese, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, chicken, and avocado. Taco salad has ground beef, tomatoes, chili beans, cheese, onion, and crushed tortilla chips. The dressings are varied for both of the salads. Both are hearty enough to be a meal.

It’s easy to make a salad. First, chop up lettuce and put it in a bowl. Then cut up and add the fresh veggies you like: tomatoes, onions, cucumbers and carrots. Next, select the dressing you want to add and pour it over the top. Finally, add some croutons for a nice crunchy finish.